Policy

05/22/2012

Can we all agree that the concept of free elections is valid only if women of all classes are included the political process? While the rapid development of Egypt's new political era unfurls this week, most media outlets are focused on how the country's first free presidential will affect the voters, or whether voters will choose a secular v. Islamic path. Certainly this week will be some sort of "moment of truth" for Egypt, but...
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03/19/2012

The two Koreas are always compared to each other in terms of their economic and social divergence despite sharing one peninsula in East Asia (much to Sarah Palin's surprise). The chart below shouldn't come as a surprise for most who are familiar with the region--South Korea begins to really gain momentum in the 1970s, leaving its northern sibling way, way behind, as Drezner notes: But we've seen these numbers often. What about pre-1972? It looks...
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02/17/2012

Take a look at the row of witnesses that testified on the birth control benefit yesterday on Capitol Hill. How naive and exclusionary does this situation look to you? Again, this is in Washington, not somewhere in the Middle East or South Asia.
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10/06/2011

By now you've probably heard of the "fat tax" that will go into effect in Hungary, Denmark and now France. With obesity rates in the EU skyrocketing to levels that have their governments on alert, these taxes should theoretically discourage residents from buying foods and drinks that are unhealthy. But these taxes also raise a lot of questions. The fat taxes that will be imposed on foods with high fat, salt and sugar content are...
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10/03/2011

Anyone familiar with Tokyo knows quite well the understood influence of the yakuza in Japanese society. This past weekend, however, the Japanese government's organized crime exclusionary laws went into effect in order to discourage and limit (and eventually abolish) businesses from dealing with them completely. If you or your business pays them off in any way, you'll be treated like a criminal, too -- not to mention be publicly humiliated and potentially lose a lot...
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09/22/2011

Over the last year France's burqa ban has been quite a debate (here and here) without much real-life consequence. But with the first "test case" arrests in Paris today resulting in two fully-veiled women being fined 200 euros by the courts (about $271 now), the ban's establishment is definitely taking place. Interestingly a French businessman named Rachid Nekkaz stepped up and paid for the women's fines himself. He explains: "…I can't accept that my government...
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08/02/2011

The debt compromise passed the House on Monday evening with a vote of 269-161. The breakdown: 174 Republicans and 95 Democrats voted to pass the debt ceiling increase, while 66 Republicans and 95 Democrats opposed the debt deal. Although the Tea Party's role has been effectively solidified by this turn of events, the GOP and Boehner both took massive reputation hits (both within and outside of their ideologically-contentious party) during this process -- but nothing...
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06/29/2011

One of the most chaotic aspects of the conversation on Greece's recent economic and social woes is how so much of the country's situation is being defined by nations other than Greece. Whether or not this is based upon what some say are Greece's past mistakes or its victimization by broader calamities imposed by her neighbors, one thing is certainly clear: the source of a country's woes today are rarely pinpointed to a single perpetrator....
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05/19/2011

Taking a quick break at my desk this morning to tune in to the President's speech regarding the Middle East and North Africa (I like multiple screens whenever possible!), which I thought was supposed to begin at 8:40 am (Pacific) but I guess not! I'm quite curious as to what he will say -- particularly about Bahrain and, of course, Syria -- and I think we're all seeking much more than simply the eloquence from...
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